Cotia: Immigration, Politics and Culture
Author: Taniguti, Gustavo , gustavotaniguti@gmail.com
Department: Sociology
University: University of São Paulo, Brazil
Supervisor: Nadya Araujo Guimarães
Year of completion: 2015
Language of dissertation: Portuguese
Keywords:
Japanese Immigration
, Economic Sociology
, Brazil
, Agricultural Cooperatives
Areas of Research:
Migration
, Economy and Society
, Historical and Comparative Sociology
Abstract
This thesis is a study on the cultural and political mediations that affect the operating environment of the business world. I seek to reach points of intersection between economic activities, politics and culture of a small fraction of Japanese immigrants in São Paulo, Brazil. I examine the repertoire of motivations of agents that, in different time periods, occupied the top leadership positions in a firm: the Cooperativa Agrícola de Cotia. I examine whether and under what conditions certain social foundations conditioned the actions of these agents. I analyze their perceptions of events and specific historical moments, as well as the responses made by them to the allocation system rights and opportunities offered to the foreigners in Brazilian society throughout the twentieth century. I argue that inseparable social processes of the migratory experience of the Japanese population in Brazil ‒ such as the struggle for recognition of their differences and the formulation of social incorporation strategies ‒ reverberated on the repertoire of motivation of the firm’s top managers.
